When They Persecute You Series

Tonight we will conclude our study on The Sermon on the Mount. There is still much more that Christ taught in chapter five, but our focus has been primarily focused on the portion that includes “The Beatitudes”.

Last week we looked closely at verse 10, and I would like to connect a final study on verses 11 and 12.

These verses are closely related because all three have to do with a word of caution from Jesus.

That caution is for Christians and what they should know and expect in this world.

Typically we all want to be encouraged with how we live for God, but we should not try to bury our heads in the sand on the reality of the condition of this world.

John 16:33 (NLT)

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

Jesus warns us that we will have many trials and sorrows. We need to be prepared for those trials and sorrows. Not to worry over them, but not to be naïve.

One of our greatest sorrows is when our friends or loved ones come against us for our commitment to Christ.

Text: Matthew 5:10 –12

No one likes to have things said about them that are mean or untrue, but it happens…

Transition:

Listen to these recent national statistics from a well respected magazine called, “Psychology Today” as it tells us about how much truth there is in our culture:

• More people say they have cheated on their marriage partners than on their tax returns.

• More than half say that if their tax returns were audited, they would probably owe the government money.

• About one out of three people admits to deceiving a best friend about something within the last year; 96 percent of them feel guilty about it.

• Nearly 50% predict that if they scratched another car in the parking lot, they would drive away without leaving a note—although the vast majority (89 percent) agree that would be immoral.

Now listen to what the Bible has to say:

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately wicked.”

For once - it sounds as if the world agrees with the Bible. The truth is the more man researches man and his nature, the more it is apparent that man needs God.

The Psychologists know this to be true… we should too.

We live in a world that speaks falsehoods and lies.

Oftentimes that will involve you and the people around you. We all would like for the world to be truthful, but…

We find ourselves so easily offended by those who lie about us, persecute us and revile us.

We often expect unsaved people to treat us fairly, with virtues and high morals. But perhaps our problem is that we do not understand the environment we live in.

The fact is we don’t always want the truth. We ask someone how they are doing, and when we get their typical (depressing) response we would have rather not been told the truth.

Transition:

Little white lies we can live with, but it’s the big lies we have trouble with. They come from Satan, himself. The Bible says that Satan is the “father of lies.” It was his lie that got us into trouble in the first place (in the Garden of Eden). And we know that Adam and Eve easily fell for it. Their first mistake was listening to the lie.

As a result (of that first lie) the perfect world of honesty instantly became a memory. And the world has never been the same since. We live in a world that has grown very accustomed to deception and falsehoods.

Well now we know exactly how we feel about lies. Now let’s find out how God feels about lies.

Lies anger God much more so than they do us.

“The LORD hates those who tell lies but is pleased with those who keep their promises” (Prov. 12:22).

“The LORD hates … a lying tongue” (Prov. 6:16–17).

God “destroys liars … [and] hates those who kill and trick others” (Ps. 5:6).

Application:

Our problem is that telling lies only offend us. What I mean is we are only insulted when someone tells a lie about us, or deceives us. We say things like, “How dare you…who do you think you are?”

The problem is we are only offended when we are lied to. Apparently, we are not angered by the sin of lying. God is. When we are lied to we only sense a lack of respect from that person. It is our pride and self respect that is troubled.

Illustration: